Vol. 4 (2012) | pp. 1-20 http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_AMAL.2012.v4.40586 PROMETHEAN REBELLION IN RAY BRADBURY’S FAHRENHEIT 451: THE PROTAGONIST’S QUEST FERNANDA LUÍSA FENEJA ISLA CAMPUS LISBOA – LAUREATE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES ULICES/CEAUL (UNIVERSITY OF LISBON CENTRE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES)
[email protected] Article received on 01.02.2012 Accepted on 14.08.2012 ABSTRACT This article aims to reflect on the role of myth in science fiction narrative, namely on the specific forms it may take in utopian/dystopian fiction, such as Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury. The personal development of the main character, Guy Montag, constitutes the focus of this analysis, by which we aim to shed some light on the relation between the meaning of the novel and the Promethean features he evinces in the context of a dystopian novel. The symbolic power of fire and of books is also of core relevance to this study, not only because they highlight the hero’s inheritance of the Promethean myth, but also because they provide a deeper insight into the exegetic possibilities of dystopian fiction. KEYWORDS Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Prometheus myth, rebellion, dystopia, science fiction, protagonist. 1. INTRODUCTION Social criticism has been closely associated with science fiction narrative, inasmuch as the alternative worlds depicted often draw on critical aspects of contemporary society or history, in order to metaphorically highlight its frailties. Resorting to sophisticated technological apparatus, most science fiction texts manage thereby to attain a symbolic level of significance that is somehow reinforced by the apparent gap between the real, recognizable world disclosed in the texts, and the narrative settings and chronotopes framing them.